Identity and Belonging

The American poet A. R. Ammons once wrote a poem called “Identity,” which he wrote after observing the wonder and complexity of a spider weaving a web. In that fragile—yet paradoxically strong—creation he finds a great truth of our life, specifically the way we work to bring order into the disorder of our world. Against the chaos and complications facing all of us in the dark forests of this life, we work at the delicate process of creating our home, our place in the world.

Few things challenge your sense of identity like moving to a new place. Every year, I have my students read an excerpt from a book called The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John that goes, “On your first day at a new school in a new town, you get to decide what kind of kid you were going to be. You could be the smart kid, or the kid who has cool shoes. The kid who knows everything about old cars, or current events, or World War I. The kid who always has chapstick … Today was the day when you could decide to become a new kid and be that kid for the rest of your life.”

As a former 5th grade math teacher now training teachers, I felt particularly proud when I recently learned that church communities could be modeled by mathematics. We finally have proof that there’s an answer to the age-old question, “When will I ever use this in real life!?” Fear not, however; no degree in upper level mathematics is required here. Any experience with churches, lifelong or short-lived, deeply personal or distant and indirect, is all the background knowledge you need.